A.President Ella Serrano – Approval of Minutes 1.Can we get someone to approve the minutes? 2.NO BECAUSE THERE WERE NO MINUTES 3.No minutes, but there are notes from the Fireside Chat. B.Vice President Devon Chen – Activities Forum/PTSA Council Report 1.Activities Forum meeting yesterday. Next Activities Forum meeting: Thursday, February 26th 2.No PTSA this month C.Treasurer Neil Patel – Account Update 1.We didn’t have to pay Xerox in January! I think it got lost in the mail, or we overpaid for one of the bills. At point or another, they will suck the money out of us. 2.We have $4,802.93. We’re poor D.Public Relations Officer Ankit Shah – E-mails/Communication 1.By next week, the Fireside Chat information will be up on the bulletin board. And this week’s minutes too. And we’re going to change the semi-formal pictures. 2.If there is any class government news, then you guys can use it=create big flyers, good for marketing. Neil: There are a lot of big posters which are really great. E.Secretary Natalie Li – Random Fact 1.53% of women in America would dump their boyfriend if they did not get them anything for Valentine’s Day. 2.Valentine’s Day superstition
III.Old Business
A.Board of Education 1.Grace: Last meeting, reviewed what happened with financial reports and saving energy. 2.Sana: Before the fireside chat, talked about getting new math textbooks. B.Site Based Report 1.Chris: Had a meeting over midterm week, but I had a test so missed it. But Dr. Modoono said it was cool. C.Curriculum Council 1.Meena: This was cancelled. D.Crisis Response Team 1.Jordan: A lot of people complained to Mr. Bolen, and how after the bomb threat, they closed two doors (Tech and DECA) = teachers were surprised and were complaining. All doors are getting new key card swipes, and all teachers are being issued new cards by the end of the month. E.Winter Formal 1.Ankit: No longer in the winter! L Feb 28th was taken by the football clinic, so the date could not be changed. The last potential date is March 28th. We’re working on a confirmation for that date, and if it works out, then we have a lot of work to do. If it doesn’t, I’ll be crying. 2.Nicole I: Should I tell the DJ to put this on hold? 3.Ankit: Yes, because we definitely can’t do February 28th. I’ll know by tomorrow, so Winter Formal committee: check your e-mail. 4.Meena: Um…there’s a model UN trip on the 28th of March F.Data Match 1.Ella: This will still happen because WCWB forecast does not look so good. It’ll be easy to plan. Just a 3rd period to fill out the survey, a week of advertising and a week to receive the results. It’ll happen sometime in March. 2.Devon: Tell your classes! G.Fireside Chat 1.Ella: For the most part, it went really well. Thank you to all the people that brought up issues and concerns. We certainly get our opinions voiced, and hopefully in future years, underclassmen will get more involved. Does anyone have any thoughts? 2.Ella: Dr. Bierwirth asked Mr. Bolen if the underclassmen were interested in having a Fireside Chat just for you guys after school one day. Ankit: The Fireside Chat things will affect you underclassmen the most because upperclassmen are graduating. So you’re word is incredibly important. Ella: Dr. Bierwirth wanted to discuss the common philosophy about taking a million APs because you guys are going to be here for the next couple of years. Devon: They are thinking of de-stratifying the classes—so perhaps no more honors, regular and AP. Important stuff. Ella: What’s a good day for the underclassmen? Bring your friends! We’ll get back to you guys H.Class Officer Reports 1.Freshman: Jack—Preparing for battle 2.Sophomores: Grace—Had our first battle meeting today. We discussed themes. Is there a deadline? Neil: There might be a deadline where you submit your top three choices. The date of battle will probably be moved toward the end of May. 3.Juniors: Sid—We talked about Battle a big and fundraising. 4.Seniors: Matt—We had a prom meeting, battle meeting on Tuesday and a grad meeting on Thursday. 5.Ankit: Wear your T-shirts! Even if you can’t find it, make one like Mr. Stein! Mr. Stein flexes to show off his shirt. Mt. Stein: I’d like to add that people can wear a thermal underneath their shirt to show off the shirt instead of a sweater over it.
IV.New Business A.Seminar Day 1.Ella: Last year for Sophs, Juniors and Seniors, we had “Diversity Day.” It’s a day where we organize seminars for people to learn something new. Mr. Barton sets up a scheduling site where we were able to pick the seminars that we were interested in. We didn’t have to go to class and went to seminars instead. Apparently there isn’t time to plan an event like that for this year, but we can plan for next year perhaps in October. They want to start planning in spring. 2.Neil Patel: For the people that have it, does anybody have any comments and ideas? Matt: The guest speaker has to work out a better way. Maybe we can have it like having smaller groups in the auditorium instead of all people packed in the gym. And the speaker’s message did not connect with anything the students did that day. Maybe we can think of that for the future. 3.Kathleen: We can’t have it this year? Devon: We don’t have the time to plan it. It’s been traditionally every other year, and it takes a lot of time to plan. Each class needs to be approved by the administration. 4.Chris: Why did they rename it? Devon: Last year they just had seminars instead of cultural diverse things, so they renamed it to be more accurate. The name isn’t definite. B.Committees 1.Ella: We didn’t forget about committees! It’s upsetting seeing people doing a lot of committees and others don’t. Devon: I’m going to do the dirty work and call out the people. We don’t want to shame you, but just letting you know that you guys need more committee credits! C.Mr. Stein’s Wiki: 1.Devon: We’re updating so you guys should check it out! It’ll have a page for classes to update.
V.Impeachments
VI.Questions/Comments A.Neil Patel: Maybe we can think of issues/problems that we can discuss to institute for this year? Nap room, N64 in the lounge…any new ideas? Devon: We have the opportunity to gain power of we have a student platform. It would make sense for us to have a platform because a lot of things in school are focused around us. Neil: These meetings should be more of a think tank and forum for ideas. 1.Jordan: Can we change the old pictures? Neil: Yeah! I agree! We should put more student artwork and beautiful things on our walls other than the irrelevant pictures. We have to much empty space. Jordan: I put forward a motion that the student government puts forward the idea of decorating/beautifying the school! Nicole: If we talk to Art Club and NAHS and theyare willing to do things like that. 2.Kathleen: Can we have more than one table in the courtyard? And could we have a day where we paint rooms? Neil: That sounds good, we can think about doing that. 3.Meena: Every year, in my cousin’s school, all the seniors go out in the field and get spray paint and make designs for that section of the hill. It’s a cool tradition 4.Jordan: When I visited GW, they have a day where they give chalk and just chalk the streets. Maybe we can do that in high school. It would be a cool way to unite the school. 5.Nicole: In my old school, we did handprints in one whole wall, and we wrote our names and messages. Everyone does it and it grows. Ankit: I feel that the basement is decorated well so we can do something like that. 6.Justin: Can we do something about the auditorium? Maybe we can at least fix the clock because its broken. 7.Matt: I think the drive up to the high school is depressing, so can we put something nicer there? It’s not that nice looking right now. Jenna: One of my family friends has horse statues, so maybe we can fundraise, or maybe everyone someone graduates, we can put money towards a statue, and add a statue on the walkway. 8.Jeff: At Bethpage, they have a statue of their mascot. Maybe we can have something that for our school. 9.Neil Patel: At Oceanside, each class had its own wooden plank, and it had cool designs and everyone signed their names on it. It was forever on the wall. We have all this empty space now, so maybe we can fill it up with that. Jenna: Each class can get its own paddle, and we can be like mini fraternities. 10.Jordan: Maybe for Battle we can make plaques instead of windows; Matt: Or just paint directly on the walls. Nicole: Some people have sort of a battle all year round. They gym is decorated with things like that. 11.Matt: This is a bit out there, but in Cali, on the beach, they set up a flag in the ground to memorialize the soldiers. They had tons of flags on the beach, and it made such an impact. So maybe we can do something to that effect, like mini-flags, and have it as a permanent memorial, and maybe update it once every week. It would create a statement in the community, and add something to the school in the future. I don’t know if it’s possible, but if done correctly, it could be really powerful. I feel like the school needs to be a bit more patriotic in a way. There needs to be an American component in our school, and we should pay homage to those that give their lives for us. We have to thank our servicemen, we should recognize their sacrifice. Neil Patel: remember last meeting my response to what do you think about school spirit? I think that there is a lack of tradition here, but I think it would be good to start new traditions. Between Homecoming and Battle, nothing really happens in this school. Jenna: I don’t think its lack of tradition, but I think it’s that school spirit is mostly around sports team, and we don’t really have the most athletic school. Devon: I know what you’re saying, but I don’t think it has to come from sports teams. I think that we just need to install a sense of pride. Jenna: I feel like our school did have traditions, but it’s just that traditions die down. For example, our community used to have a big Homecoming Dance, and then it died down. Neil Patel: That’s why it’s so important we have this discussion. When I saw old yearbooks, they have a lot of pride. Grace: MY cousin is stationed in Iraq now, and he has a group of soldiers that he’s tight with. But maybe we can send packages to them from student government. Any little thing would be really appreciated. We can form a relationship with them. Kathleen: Maybe we can celebrate Flag Day too. 12.Ella: A couple of years ago, we brought up the idea that instead of having bells, we could play music in the hallways during breaks. I think that would contribute to heightening the spirit and the day-to-day happiness of the students. Jordan: Stud gov’t can make a playlist. 13.Meena: I think we need speakers in the gym. During games we use a microphone for the music, so maybe we can get speakers to blow up the music. 14.Kathleen: Can we get a commercial advertising student government? Neil Patel: That’s a really good idea. They can be about school citizenship, and coming to Senate, or some type or rallying commercial. We can portray a host of ideas. Maybe we can start a committee. B.Neil: I really enjoyed this last thirty minutes of exchange. It’s sharing our values and bringing our stories to the table to create something great for our school.
VII.Adjournment Huddle! Gold finch on three! See you after February Break! Next meeting: TBA Minutes November 13th, 2008 Agenda ** I.Attendance/Call to Order Said the Pledge II.Officer Reports A.President Ella Serrano – Approval of Minutes i.Approve: Ahrim; 2nd Krippa B.Vice President Devon Chen – Activities forum/PTSA Council Report i.Act Forum-Next meeting November 18 (Possible interclub project to Jamaica) C.Treasurer Neil Patel – Account Update i.Account is inflated to $5900=really have $4400 and doesn’t include bills we haven’t received L D.Public Relations Officer Ankit Shah – E-mails/Communication i.Devon made Google Calendar which we will go over later E.Secretary Natalie Li – Random Fact i.Are you guys aware that the name of all the continents begin and end with the same letter? ii.On average, 12 newborns are given to the wrong parents, daily. III.Old Business A.Board of Education i.Grace: John McNeur inducted into the LI Music Hall of Fame, Sci Research Sanchita, GRAMMY Signature school finalist for 6th/7th time and part of top 100 schools again! ii.Aisha: About Newsday article about cafeteria food—just took that off of the menu so Chef Ed wasn’t there yet so not current stats B.Curriculum Council i.Meena: International Film Fest (Prerequisite Film Class), Teen Workshop, Philosophy + Yoga Half/yr for 10-12th, SS Sci Research Spring—Honors credit now, Child Develop 2 (continuation of 1), College Algebra, Shelter Rock Academy: Philosophy class. New language electives, food for thought, French cuisine made easy, also new classes for Italian and Spanish, Spanish 4 for Sciences is for people who plan to go into medical studies (prepares for medical + Spanish) C.Winter Formal Committee i.Ankit: Meeting on Monday=est. that the outer school venues were way too expensive=formal will be in the gym=great opportunity to improve upon the semi-formal and make this something new & reduced costs; Kathleen: Maybe we can hike the price to $15 so that we can make more profit; Ankit: Yeah sounds good and we can also do more for the dance too. Tentative date=Friday, January 30th which needs to be confirmed w/ athletic schedule; survey in cafeteria will be going out on the comp soon (attire, theme of the dance questions) D.Student Teacher Communications Committee i.Ella: Will meet next Wed the 19th in Mr. Stein’s room: People that signed up=Sid Aisha Jack Jeff Dan Max Jenna Christina) ii.Ella: NEED TWO committee credits per semester! iii.Stein: Last time, zero students showed up! That looks bad! iv.Devon: So we should try to get a bunch of people to come to make up for that time! E.T-shirts i.Devon: We placed the order, and they will be coming in two weeks. They are electric blue (North Carolina blue according to the website) ii.Ankit: They will be here before the next Senate meeting iii.Devon: T-shirts will cost $6 each! F.Alumni Luncheon i.Devon: Something done every year for juniors and seniors periods 8 & 9 on January 5th. Going to have a panel of alumni form the class of ’08 about applications process and the experiences. We’re going to pick which alumni for this panel by the beginning of December, so just heads up. All alumni are invited to come back that day. G.HOBY i.Ella: Interviews last Tuesday. Thanks to all the Sophomores ii.Emily: Congrats to Meena and Camille is the alternate! iii.Stein: You both need to fill out these forms after the meeting! H.Class Officer Reports i.Freshman—Jack—Want to do a bake sale, but our advisors want to do something creative. Christina: No meeting has happened yet… ii.Sophomores—Grace—meeting tomorrow to discuss stuff iii.Juniors—Emily—had a successful bake sale on Halloween and had a meeting yesterday. Sid made a video for Keep the Drive for “Holiday Holla” Got $2,000! Winner gets $10,000 so vote for it! Kathleen: http//www.Holidayholla.com/videos iv.Seniors—Matt—Finished our hallway for battle and next years homecoming float and we had a class of 09 apparel meeting which was lotsa fun. We’re going to do a poll online about it. à Random: Ankit: Pumpkin carving was a success, and I pity those that could not be there. Maybe we can do Secret Santa! Devon: OMG GOOD IDEA! And round of applause for Christina for bringing the pumpkins! IV.New Business A.Google Calendar i.Devon: We have a calendar! Yay! It’s coming from our Google account, we have a URL where we can view it, but you can’t make changes on it. But if you contact us, we can change it for you. We will e-mail it to you guys. ii.Ella: You guys are allowed to put class gov’t events on it too iii.Devon: 4 Calendars: Committee, Senate meetings, General Events (BOTC, etc.), Class Events iv.Ankit: It’s a great way to keep everyone in the school “in the know” B.Hofstra Seminar Series i.Devon: School does every year, and we get some professors from Hofstra after school to give lectures on topics that we help choose. Administration is asking for two juniors to look through a list of possible seminars. Really cool seminars! Chris: Women detectives. Devon: We need two juniors volunteers: Kathleen and Emily Devon: We will e-mail you guys with info in the later dates C.Fundraising i.Neil: Our economic situation is really bad, and every month we pay $450 to Xerox=Fundraising is REALLY important. We need creative fundraisers where we can make $100 to hopefully $1,000. So I’m going to pass around small pieces of paper so that we can write down ideas on them about fundraising. Back in 2006, Student gov’t did pie wars, so we were thinking of doing that again to raise money. So we’re thinking of something that could revolve around the holidays. Any ideas right now? No bake sales! If we don’t make more money, we CAN’T have a winter formal. ii.Ankit: So please think about it. iii.Neil: [Reading some ideas] Talent show, Win a date with A-Dog, Karoake, Candy Cane Sales Secretly, Bikini Carwash (:O Matt Wong), Human Auctions (Teacher bid on student help?), Nicole: Auction off boys! , Free Throw Competition, Hot Dog Eating Contest, Dunk Tank Teachers, Pudding Pool Wrestling (Dan Russo)=That’s basically it iv.Devon: Other Ideas? Jeff: Basketball Tourament, Jordan: Snowball “tournaments” think about the forts that can be created!, Snowman Contest? v.Ella: Data Match=Student gov’t compiles a list of questions about your likes and your dislikes and characteristics of what you look for in a person. Then you send it to a company and they make a questionnaire, and after everyone fills it out, we send the answers to the Data Match Company and they organize the Data and compile a list of people that you would be most compatible with as friends, or more. If people wanted to get their compatibility sheets, we can charge for that. vi.Devon: What do you guys think? We can form a committee for this? [Jenna: Have an idea! Speed dating! Just a suggestion. And we can get cafeteria tables, and set it up with candles. Devon: OMGSH We should do speed dating for the winter formal!!] Anyway, Data Match Committee? Brian, Matt, Emily, Anika, Aisha, Max, Julie Chang, Meena, Grace, Camille, Krippa, Timmy, Akhil, Leah, Neil Pathak; Neil Patel: Ella will be the committee chair. But we’re delegating responsibilities through committees, so committee chair would organize meetings so the committee can function as an independent unit; so realize that you are making a commitment—kind of like another club. So please take committees seriously, so that we can get more things done. Even you guys can suggest committees. vii.Ella reads people who need more committee credits: Sanchita + Katie, Jack, Christina, Anant, Ryan, Justin, Julie, Nicole, David, Matt Wong=0 Brian, Jaskaran, Jared, Anika, both Emilys, Kathleen, Max, Riti=1/2 V.Impeachments VI.Questions/Comments A.Jordan: Could we have some meeting to talk about the new parking spots in the back for teachers. Stein: But staff parking takes precedent over students. I can ask about that though. B.Jenna: Co-op program for seniors; I think we should broaden this program, so maybe we can mention how there can be more opportunities within this program. Maybe we can offer different internships to seniors and make it easier. Jordan: I don’t think people ever publicized about it either. Jenna: I think its great opportunity for kids. It’s a volunteer/internship. Devon: This can be brought up at Curriculum Council. à Devon: We need to take a student gov’t photo btw! VII.Adjournment A.Huddle: Babies on 3!
Herricks High School
Minutes
February 5th, 2009
I. Attendance/Call to Order
Pledge of AllegianceII. Officer Reports
A. President Ella Serrano – Approval of Minutes1. Can we get someone to approve the minutes?
2. NO BECAUSE THERE WERE NO MINUTES
3. No minutes, but there are notes from the Fireside Chat.
B. Vice President Devon Chen – Activities Forum/PTSA Council Report
1. Activities Forum meeting yesterday. Next Activities Forum meeting: Thursday, February 26th
2. No PTSA this month
C. Treasurer Neil Patel – Account Update
1. We didn’t have to pay Xerox in January! I think it got lost in the mail, or we overpaid for one of the bills. At point or another, they will suck the money out of us.
2. We have $4,802.93. We’re poor
D. Public Relations Officer Ankit Shah – E-mails/Communication
1. By next week, the Fireside Chat information will be up on the bulletin board. And this week’s minutes too. And we’re going to change the semi-formal pictures.
2. If there is any class government news, then you guys can use it=create big flyers, good for marketing. Neil: There are a lot of big posters which are really great.
E. Secretary Natalie Li – Random Fact
1. 53% of women in America would dump their boyfriend if they did not get them anything for Valentine’s Day.
2. Valentine’s Day superstition
III. Old Business
A. Board of Education1. Grace: Last meeting, reviewed what happened with financial reports and saving energy.
2. Sana: Before the fireside chat, talked about getting new math textbooks.
B. Site Based Report
1. Chris: Had a meeting over midterm week, but I had a test so missed it. But Dr. Modoono said it was cool.
C. Curriculum Council
1. Meena: This was cancelled.
D. Crisis Response Team
1. Jordan: A lot of people complained to Mr. Bolen, and how after the bomb threat, they closed two doors (Tech and DECA) = teachers were surprised and were complaining. All doors are getting new key card swipes, and all teachers are being issued new cards by the end of the month.
E. Winter Formal
1. Ankit: No longer in the winter! L Feb 28th was taken by the football clinic, so the date could not be changed. The last potential date is March 28th. We’re working on a confirmation for that date, and if it works out, then we have a lot of work to do. If it doesn’t, I’ll be crying.
2. Nicole I: Should I tell the DJ to put this on hold?
3. Ankit: Yes, because we definitely can’t do February 28th. I’ll know by tomorrow, so Winter Formal committee: check your e-mail.
4. Meena: Um…there’s a model UN trip on the 28th of March
F. Data Match
1. Ella: This will still happen because WCWB forecast does not look so good. It’ll be easy to plan. Just a 3rd period to fill out the survey, a week of advertising and a week to receive the results. It’ll happen sometime in March.
2. Devon: Tell your classes!
G. Fireside Chat
1. Ella: For the most part, it went really well. Thank you to all the people that brought up issues and concerns. We certainly get our opinions voiced, and hopefully in future years, underclassmen will get more involved. Does anyone have any thoughts?
2. Ella: Dr. Bierwirth asked Mr. Bolen if the underclassmen were interested in having a Fireside Chat just for you guys after school one day. Ankit: The Fireside Chat things will affect you underclassmen the most because upperclassmen are graduating. So you’re word is incredibly important. Ella: Dr. Bierwirth wanted to discuss the common philosophy about taking a million APs because you guys are going to be here for the next couple of years. Devon: They are thinking of de-stratifying the classes—so perhaps no more honors, regular and AP. Important stuff. Ella: What’s a good day for the underclassmen? Bring your friends! We’ll get back to you guys
H. Class Officer Reports
1. Freshman: Jack—Preparing for battle
2. Sophomores: Grace—Had our first battle meeting today. We discussed themes. Is there a deadline? Neil: There might be a deadline where you submit your top three choices. The date of battle will probably be moved toward the end of May.
3. Juniors: Sid—We talked about Battle a big and fundraising.
4. Seniors: Matt—We had a prom meeting, battle meeting on Tuesday and a grad meeting on Thursday.
5. Ankit: Wear your T-shirts! Even if you can’t find it, make one like Mr. Stein! Mr. Stein flexes to show off his shirt. Mt. Stein: I’d like to add that people can wear a thermal underneath their shirt to show off the shirt instead of a sweater over it.
IV. New Business
A. Seminar Day
1. Ella: Last year for Sophs, Juniors and Seniors, we had “Diversity Day.” It’s a day where we organize seminars for people to learn something new. Mr. Barton sets up a scheduling site where we were able to pick the seminars that we were interested in. We didn’t have to go to class and went to seminars instead. Apparently there isn’t time to plan an event like that for this year, but we can plan for next year perhaps in October. They want to start planning in spring.
2. Neil Patel: For the people that have it, does anybody have any comments and ideas? Matt: The guest speaker has to work out a better way. Maybe we can have it like having smaller groups in the auditorium instead of all people packed in the gym. And the speaker’s message did not connect with anything the students did that day. Maybe we can think of that for the future.
3. Kathleen: We can’t have it this year? Devon: We don’t have the time to plan it. It’s been traditionally every other year, and it takes a lot of time to plan. Each class needs to be approved by the administration.
4. Chris: Why did they rename it? Devon: Last year they just had seminars instead of cultural diverse things, so they renamed it to be more accurate. The name isn’t definite.
B. Committees
1. Ella: We didn’t forget about committees! It’s upsetting seeing people doing a lot of committees and others don’t. Devon: I’m going to do the dirty work and call out the people. We don’t want to shame you, but just letting you know that you guys need more committee credits!
C. Mr. Stein’s Wiki:
1. Devon: We’re updating so you guys should check it out! It’ll have a page for classes to update.
V. Impeachments
VI. Questions/Comments
A. Neil Patel: Maybe we can think of issues/problems that we can discuss to institute for this year? Nap room, N64 in the lounge…any new ideas? Devon: We have the opportunity to gain power of we have a student platform. It would make sense for us to have a platform because a lot of things in school are focused around us. Neil: These meetings should be more of a think tank and forum for ideas.
1. Jordan: Can we change the old pictures? Neil: Yeah! I agree! We should put more student artwork and beautiful things on our walls other than the irrelevant pictures. We have to much empty space. Jordan: I put forward a motion that the student government puts forward the idea of decorating/beautifying the school! Nicole: If we talk to Art Club and NAHS and they are willing to do things like that.
2. Kathleen: Can we have more than one table in the courtyard? And could we have a day where we paint rooms? Neil: That sounds good, we can think about doing that.
3. Meena: Every year, in my cousin’s school, all the seniors go out in the field and get spray paint and make designs for that section of the hill. It’s a cool tradition
4. Jordan: When I visited GW, they have a day where they give chalk and just chalk the streets. Maybe we can do that in high school. It would be a cool way to unite the school.
5. Nicole: In my old school, we did handprints in one whole wall, and we wrote our names and messages. Everyone does it and it grows. Ankit: I feel that the basement is decorated well so we can do something like that.
6. Justin: Can we do something about the auditorium? Maybe we can at least fix the clock because its broken.
7. Matt: I think the drive up to the high school is depressing, so can we put something nicer there? It’s not that nice looking right now. Jenna: One of my family friends has horse statues, so maybe we can fundraise, or maybe everyone someone graduates, we can put money towards a statue, and add a statue on the walkway.
8. Jeff: At Bethpage, they have a statue of their mascot. Maybe we can have something that for our school.
9. Neil Patel: At Oceanside, each class had its own wooden plank, and it had cool designs and everyone signed their names on it. It was forever on the wall. We have all this empty space now, so maybe we can fill it up with that. Jenna: Each class can get its own paddle, and we can be like mini fraternities.
10. Jordan: Maybe for Battle we can make plaques instead of windows; Matt: Or just paint directly on the walls. Nicole: Some people have sort of a battle all year round. They gym is decorated with things like that.
11. Matt: This is a bit out there, but in Cali, on the beach, they set up a flag in the ground to memorialize the soldiers. They had tons of flags on the beach, and it made such an impact. So maybe we can do something to that effect, like mini-flags, and have it as a permanent memorial, and maybe update it once every week. It would create a statement in the community, and add something to the school in the future. I don’t know if it’s possible, but if done correctly, it could be really powerful. I feel like the school needs to be a bit more patriotic in a way. There needs to be an American component in our school, and we should pay homage to those that give their lives for us. We have to thank our servicemen, we should recognize their sacrifice. Neil Patel: remember last meeting my response to what do you think about school spirit? I think that there is a lack of tradition here, but I think it would be good to start new traditions. Between Homecoming and Battle, nothing really happens in this school. Jenna: I don’t think its lack of tradition, but I think it’s that school spirit is mostly around sports team, and we don’t really have the most athletic school. Devon: I know what you’re saying, but I don’t think it has to come from sports teams. I think that we just need to install a sense of pride. Jenna: I feel like our school did have traditions, but it’s just that traditions die down. For example, our community used to have a big Homecoming Dance, and then it died down. Neil Patel: That’s why it’s so important we have this discussion. When I saw old yearbooks, they have a lot of pride. Grace: MY cousin is stationed in Iraq now, and he has a group of soldiers that he’s tight with. But maybe we can send packages to them from student government. Any little thing would be really appreciated. We can form a relationship with them. Kathleen: Maybe we can celebrate Flag Day too.
12. Ella: A couple of years ago, we brought up the idea that instead of having bells, we could play music in the hallways during breaks. I think that would contribute to heightening the spirit and the day-to-day happiness of the students. Jordan: Stud gov’t can make a playlist.
13. Meena: I think we need speakers in the gym. During games we use a microphone for the music, so maybe we can get speakers to blow up the music.
14. Kathleen: Can we get a commercial advertising student government? Neil Patel: That’s a really good idea. They can be about school citizenship, and coming to Senate, or some type or rallying commercial. We can portray a host of ideas. Maybe we can start a committee.
B. Neil: I really enjoyed this last thirty minutes of exchange. It’s sharing our values and bringing our stories to the table to create something great for our school.
VII. Adjournment
Huddle! Gold finch on three!
See you after February Break!
Next meeting: TBA
Minutes
November 13th, 2008
Agenda **
I. Attendance/Call to Order
Said the Pledge
II. Officer Reports
A. President Ella Serrano – Approval of Minutes
i. Approve: Ahrim; 2nd Krippa
B. Vice President Devon Chen – Activities forum/PTSA Council Report
i. Act Forum-Next meeting November 18 (Possible interclub project to Jamaica)
C. Treasurer Neil Patel – Account Update
i. Account is inflated to $5900=really have $4400 and doesn’t include bills we haven’t received L
D. Public Relations Officer Ankit Shah – E-mails/Communication
i. Devon made Google Calendar which we will go over later
E. Secretary Natalie Li – Random Fact
i. Are you guys aware that the name of all the continents begin and end with the same letter?
ii. On average, 12 newborns are given to the wrong parents, daily.
III. Old Business
A. Board of Education
i. Grace: John McNeur inducted into the LI Music Hall of Fame, Sci Research Sanchita, GRAMMY Signature school finalist for 6th/7th time and part of top 100 schools again!
ii. Aisha: About Newsday article about cafeteria food—just took that off of the menu so Chef Ed wasn’t there yet so not current stats
B. Curriculum Council
i. Meena: International Film Fest (Prerequisite Film Class), Teen Workshop, Philosophy + Yoga Half/yr for 10-12th, SS Sci Research Spring—Honors credit now, Child Develop 2 (continuation of 1), College Algebra, Shelter Rock Academy: Philosophy class. New language electives, food for thought, French cuisine made easy, also new classes for Italian and Spanish, Spanish 4 for Sciences is for people who plan to go into medical studies (prepares for medical + Spanish)
C. Winter Formal Committee
i. Ankit: Meeting on Monday=est. that the outer school venues were way too expensive=formal will be in the gym=great opportunity to improve upon the semi-formal and make this something new & reduced costs; Kathleen: Maybe we can hike the price to $15 so that we can make more profit; Ankit: Yeah sounds good and we can also do more for the dance too. Tentative date=Friday, January 30th which needs to be confirmed w/ athletic schedule; survey in cafeteria will be going out on the comp soon (attire, theme of the dance questions)
D. Student Teacher Communications Committee
i. Ella: Will meet next Wed the 19th in Mr. Stein’s room: People that signed up=Sid Aisha Jack Jeff Dan Max Jenna Christina)
ii. Ella: NEED TWO committee credits per semester!
iii. Stein: Last time, zero students showed up! That looks bad!
iv. Devon: So we should try to get a bunch of people to come to make up for that time!
E. T-shirts
i. Devon: We placed the order, and they will be coming in two weeks. They are electric blue (North Carolina blue according to the website)
ii. Ankit: They will be here before the next Senate meeting
iii. Devon: T-shirts will cost $6 each!
F. Alumni Luncheon
i. Devon: Something done every year for juniors and seniors periods 8 & 9 on January 5th. Going to have a panel of alumni form the class of ’08 about applications process and the experiences. We’re going to pick which alumni for this panel by the beginning of December, so just heads up. All alumni are invited to come back that day.
G. HOBY
i. Ella: Interviews last Tuesday. Thanks to all the Sophomores
ii. Emily: Congrats to Meena and Camille is the alternate!
iii. Stein: You both need to fill out these forms after the meeting!
H. Class Officer Reports
i. Freshman—Jack—Want to do a bake sale, but our advisors want to do something creative. Christina: No meeting has happened yet…
ii. Sophomores—Grace—meeting tomorrow to discuss stuff
iii. Juniors—Emily—had a successful bake sale on Halloween and had a meeting yesterday. Sid made a video for Keep the Drive for “Holiday Holla” Got $2,000! Winner gets $10,000 so vote for it! Kathleen: http//www.Holidayholla.com/videos
iv. Seniors—Matt—Finished our hallway for battle and next years homecoming float and we had a class of 09 apparel meeting which was lotsa fun. We’re going to do a poll online about it.
à Random: Ankit: Pumpkin carving was a success, and I pity those that could not be there. Maybe we can do Secret Santa! Devon: OMG GOOD IDEA! And round of applause for Christina for bringing the pumpkins!
IV. New Business
A. Google Calendar
i. Devon: We have a calendar! Yay! It’s coming from our Google account, we have a URL where we can view it, but you can’t make changes on it. But if you contact us, we can change it for you. We will e-mail it to you guys.
ii. Ella: You guys are allowed to put class gov’t events on it too
iii. Devon: 4 Calendars: Committee, Senate meetings, General Events (BOTC, etc.), Class Events
iv. Ankit: It’s a great way to keep everyone in the school “in the know”
B. Hofstra Seminar Series
i. Devon: School does every year, and we get some professors from Hofstra after school to give lectures on topics that we help choose. Administration is asking for two juniors to look through a list of possible seminars. Really cool seminars! Chris: Women detectives. Devon: We need two juniors volunteers: Kathleen and Emily Devon: We will e-mail you guys with info in the later dates
C. Fundraising
i. Neil: Our economic situation is really bad, and every month we pay $450 to Xerox=Fundraising is REALLY important. We need creative fundraisers where we can make $100 to hopefully $1,000. So I’m going to pass around small pieces of paper so that we can write down ideas on them about fundraising. Back in 2006, Student gov’t did pie wars, so we were thinking of doing that again to raise money. So we’re thinking of something that could revolve around the holidays. Any ideas right now? No bake sales! If we don’t make more money, we CAN’T have a winter formal.
ii. Ankit: So please think about it.
iii. Neil: [Reading some ideas] Talent show, Win a date with A-Dog, Karoake, Candy Cane Sales Secretly, Bikini Carwash (:O Matt Wong), Human Auctions (Teacher bid on student help?), Nicole: Auction off boys! , Free Throw Competition, Hot Dog Eating Contest, Dunk Tank Teachers, Pudding Pool Wrestling (Dan Russo)=That’s basically it
iv. Devon: Other Ideas? Jeff: Basketball Tourament, Jordan: Snowball “tournaments” think about the forts that can be created!, Snowman Contest?
v. Ella: Data Match=Student gov’t compiles a list of questions about your likes and your dislikes and characteristics of what you look for in a person. Then you send it to a company and they make a questionnaire, and after everyone fills it out, we send the answers to the Data Match Company and they organize the Data and compile a list of people that you would be most compatible with as friends, or more. If people wanted to get their compatibility sheets, we can charge for that.
vi. Devon: What do you guys think? We can form a committee for this? [Jenna: Have an idea! Speed dating! Just a suggestion. And we can get cafeteria tables, and set it up with candles. Devon: OMGSH We should do speed dating for the winter formal!!] Anyway, Data Match Committee? Brian, Matt, Emily, Anika, Aisha, Max, Julie Chang, Meena, Grace, Camille, Krippa, Timmy, Akhil, Leah, Neil Pathak; Neil Patel: Ella will be the committee chair. But we’re delegating responsibilities through committees, so committee chair would organize meetings so the committee can function as an independent unit; so realize that you are making a commitment—kind of like another club. So please take committees seriously, so that we can get more things done. Even you guys can suggest committees.
vii. Ella reads people who need more committee credits: Sanchita + Katie, Jack, Christina, Anant, Ryan, Justin, Julie, Nicole, David, Matt Wong=0 Brian, Jaskaran, Jared, Anika, both Emilys, Kathleen, Max, Riti=1/2
V. Impeachments
VI. Questions/Comments
A. Jordan: Could we have some meeting to talk about the new parking spots in the back for teachers. Stein: But staff parking takes precedent over students. I can ask about that though.
B. Jenna: Co-op program for seniors; I think we should broaden this program, so maybe we can mention how there can be more opportunities within this program. Maybe we can offer different internships to seniors and make it easier. Jordan: I don’t think people ever publicized about it either. Jenna: I think its great opportunity for kids. It’s a volunteer/internship. Devon: This can be brought up at Curriculum Council.
à Devon: We need to take a student gov’t photo btw!
VII. Adjournment
A. Huddle: Babies on 3!